What Did Jimi Hendrix Do at the Infamous Monterey Pop Festival in 1967?

For most of the 1960s, Jimi Hendrix was an unknown guitarist who performed backup for the likes of Little Richard and Ike and Tina Turner. In 1967, Hendrix began his career as a rock musician in earnest, releasing his first two albums with his band, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, that year: Are You Experienced and Axis: Bold as Love.

Jimi Hendrix performed at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival

The Monterey International Pop Festival was held in June 1967 during the Summer of Love in sunny Monterey, California. At the time, Jimi Hendrix’s public profile had risen immensely following the release of The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s debut album Are You Experienced earlier that year.

When Jimi Hendrix took the stage at the Monterey Pop Festival, fans were unsure what to expect.

He set his guitar on fire

Hendrix gave an outstanding show at the Monterey Pop Festival, but there was one part of the show in particular that continues to live on in music history. To close out the show, Hendrix performed “Wild Thing,” which had become somewhat of a calling card for him despite it not being his own song. And he truly lived up to the song’s title: he poured lighter fluid on his Fender Stratocaster guitar and set it on fire.

The move shocked attendees, even those who were used to the guitar smashing of The Who, who also performed at the festival. But it wasn’t the first time Hendrix had done the stunt: he first set his guitar on fire at a concert in London in March 1967, three months before the Monterey Pop Festival. Still, his fiery performance at the Monterey Pop Festival became an instant part of rock ‘n’ roll history, and solidified Hendrix’s spot as a true pioneer.

His career took off after his performance

Hendrix became an international phenomenon after his performance at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. The Jimi Hendrix Experience released their sophomore LP Axis: Bold as Love in December of 1967. The momentum from the Monterey Pop Festival never stopped, as he and the band juggled performances with recording new music.

The band’s third (and final) album Electric Ladyland was released in October 1968. But Hendrix was largely nowhere to be seen, frustrating his fellow band members. Friction between the group members escalated in early 1969, and they soon parted ways. He had become the world’s highest-paid rock musician.

Still, Hendrix had become the world’s highest-paid rock musician and maintained his status as a beloved musician, despite his personal troubles that were beginning to affect his professional life. In August 1969, Hendrix played at the infamous Woodstock Music and Art Fair in upstate New York, near where he lived at the time. He closed out the festival with a disturbing rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” likely done in protest of the Vietnam War.

He died a few years later in 1970

Hendrix’s career had reached an all-time high by the end of the 1960s. But what goes up must come down, and Hendrix’s drug addiction issues continued to worsen and get in the way of his career.

Hendrix was living in London in 1970, where he’d recorded much of The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s music in years prior. In September 1970, Hendrix died as a result of a barbiturate overdose, becoming an unforgettable rock icon who died at the age of 27. Less than a month later, fellow 27-year-old rock legend Janis Joplin would also die a sudden death from a heroin overdose.